


Pizza

by scullyphile



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Flirting, MSR, Pizza Man - Freeform, Season 8, mulder comes back to life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 09:03:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4600941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullyphile/pseuds/scullyphile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I joked once that I wanted to write a fic where Mulder and Scully role play and he is the pizza man. The image stuck in my head, but it didn’t turn into a smut piece like I had envisioned originally. This is kind of angst kind of fluff. It takes place in season 8, and is more of a hopeful moment for Mulder, a moment of happiness for them. Of course, it is sad once you remember what comes later for Mulder, Scully, and their son. I hope you enjoy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pizza

Mulder knew that he had been weird since he got back. After all, he’d been dead. But he thought she would understand that he wasn’t quite himself. He wasn’t ready for her to hold herself at a distance, too, although when he thought about it he guessed he should have. She was there for him, sure, but it wasn’t the reunion he had anticipated when he opened his eyes and saw her there, at his bedside. 

Somehow, for reasons he didn’t fully understand, however, things did not go back to the way they were. She had these new people now that she trusted, and it felt like betrayal. How did she trust someone else? He was her only. She was still his only. He felt more alone than he thought possible. How had so much happened without him? Why couldn’t he ask her the questions that were all burning on his mind? He needed her to look him in the eye and say all the things he wanted to hear. It occurred to him that she was waiting for him to say the things she needed to hear, and the idea pulled at his heart. She had been without him, too… for longer, and in her condition. It must have been unbelievably hard.

He had said he didn’t know where he fit in and she hadn’t said the words: _right by my side._ He was being silly, right, to want her to tell him he was being silly, to tell him that he had nothing to worry about, that she was his?

His mind hearkened back to the day he’d shown up at her door with a present for the baby. 

“Mad About You is about a married couple and we just work together.” Why had he said that? More moments from that day flashed in his mind.

“What I am saying is the pizza man is not above suspicion,” he had joked.

“I see,” was her short reply. Had he made things weird? Damn it. And then she had collapsed, and his world had turned blurry. None of the bitterness he felt had mattered in that moment.

–

After she was cleared to leave the hospital, he had brought her pizza as a peace offering. A peace date. He had so much to say, but he just made some more jokes to try to cut the tension.

“You miss your regular pizza man don’t you?” he quipped.

“It’s OK, he’s coming by later,” she hit back. That was his Scully.

Then she had opened the gift. Sweet Aliens Above, she had smiled so big then; she had laughed so sweetly, and he had felt truly alive for the first time since he came back to life. She really _was_ still his everything.

–

She’d craved so much pizza then that it became their joke. His favorite night of all, shortly before their son had been born, he had showed up with pizza again. When picking up the pizza, he’d bribed the young man behind the counter to give him his hat.

“I’m not supposed to, sir. Company policy.”

“Listen,” he looked at the young man’s name tag, “Brandon, people lose things all the time, am I right? Just tell your boss you lost your hat. You need a new one. It’s no biggie, is it, Brandon? A hat.”

“I don’t know…” the lad had said, and Mulder’s instincts told him now was the time to strike.

“I’ve got this girl waiting for me, young Brandon, and she has a thing for pizza men, if you know what I am saying?”

“Well, that sounds–”

“Brandon. How much for the hat? I’ve got another twenty in here,” he said, opening his wallet.

He sauntered to the car, hat in hand, giant smile on his face.

–

He knocked three times. She was slower getting to the door now. Only yesterday they had stood at the young woman’s bedside and argued about a spaceship rising out of the ice. It was like old times. It was like the happy new times he envisioned they would have together in the future, when he allowed himself to hope, which wasn’t often. Today was a hopeful day for Fox Mulder, however. He was smiling.

He knocked again, and she opened the door.

“Pizza,” he said, raising up the box, “That’ll be $15.95.”

“Mulder, what are you doing? How did you know I would want pizza? I was just about to call.”

“$15.95, ma'am. Plus tip.”

“Let me get my purse. Come on in.”

“We’re not really supposed to come in. You pay us at the door. We’re supposed to be quick and not fraternize.”

“Don’t be silly. Sit down. Where did you get the hat?”

“It’s my hat, ma'am, we all get one when we’re hired. Boss takes it out of your paycheck if you lose it.”

“You’re really not going to break character on this one, are you, Mulder?”

He was sitting on the couch when she came back and stood over him, her large belly in his face. He had placed the pizza on the coffee table. She lifted the hat off of his head casually, and her hands went right into his hair, as they always did. It drove him crazy every time. 

“I paid a lot of money for that hat, I’ll have you know.”

“Oh really?”

“I bribed the kid. Twenty bucks. He was a tough nut.”

“You did all that for me, Mulder?” She sat next to him.

“I was hoping to get you in the shower with me.”

“That’s sweet, but I am giant. I’m not sure we would both fit.”

“Let me get you a plate. Lean back against the arm rest and put your feet on the couch.” He brought a plate over and put two large slices on it. When he handed it to her she rested it on her belly and stared at him. He lifted up her legs and sat down, resting her bare feet on his lap. They shared a silent moment before he took her foot in his hands and started rubbing.

“Oh my gosh, that feels so good. You have no idea what this is like for my feet.” She started to eat the pizza, lifting the plate and holding it under her chin in one hand while eating with the other. Her eyes started to close as she enjoyed the foot massage. He cleared his throat slightly, and she opened her eyes to look at him.

“I want to be by your side, Scully. Do you know that? Do you remember that day you took me back to my apartment for the first time, when I said I didn’t know where I fit in? This is where. Here on your couch, rubbing your feet.” He put one hand on her stomach. She paused her eating to look at him. His other hand went up her leg, which was prickly. 

“Sorry, I’m not really able to shave anymore.”

“I’ll shave them for you if you want. And anyway, I don’t care. Your legs could look like Sasquatch’s legs for all I care.”

“Mulder.”

“I mean it. This is the only place I belong. Please let me stay.”


End file.
